Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Warm-up Stretches

The following are some simple exercises to wake up and limber the body.All of these movements work more effectively in combination with the traditional hatha yoga breath for stretching:ujjayi(prohounced oo-JAH-ya).I call it the Darth Vader breath.

·Breathing normally, slowly begin to draw a small circle with your tailbone. Notice the sensations through your whole body with this simple movement. Gradually allow your tailbone to spiral outward. The movement of your hips becomes more exaggerated with each spiral, until your hands dip toward the floor with each pass.

·Stop wherever you are. Feel the unusualness of this exaggerated pose. Reverse the spiral, slowly moving your way back to your center, then stop and notice the sensations in your body.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Everything is in a state of vibration; everything is energy waves. Your body also vibrates at a specific wavelength. You learn to tune to specific wavelengths to get specific energy for strength or power.

Swami Vishnu-devananda

HOUSTON, Late Spring 1993:The room was just large enough for the two of us to lie still, like corpses, on the floor.Black bookshelves holding a gargantuan library towered over us. Champa incense smoldered on the desk as James clanged pots and pans in the kitchen downstairs; my mouth watered with the aroma of dinner.Roy’s voice, sounding next to me, brought me back from my calm. “Wiggle your toes and stretch your body. Come back to the room when you’re ready.” I had just had my first private yoga session.

Roy Oakes was a man of contrasts. I met him in the early 1980s; at that time Roy was a computer whiz kid and a major-league party boy.My own party days were winding down, but Roy, like most of the boys in Montrose, was still riding high.I had offered to co-host the Grey Party, one of Houston’s biggest parties and AIDS fundraisers. Roy, James Stevenson, and their friend Stella hosted a planning meeting for the benefit at their posh high-rise apartment.My curiosity was piqued that night by the copy of the Tao Te Ching carefully placed on the coffee table.Following the meeting, we struck up a conversation about the book of Chinese wisdom and became friends.

Rich’s, the bar where I worked, was the swinging disco in those days. The threesome, as Roy, James and Stella were called, along with the “twinage”—Lynn and Julia, who are identical twins—started coming to the bar. That was quite a feat as my bar was situated at the top of a steep concrete stairwell, and Stella was permanently in a wheelchair.That didn’t stop Roy and James.They joyfully pulled her backward up the stairs, Stella waving all the while to the boys climbing behind her. Once at the top of the stairs, she sure could twirl in that wheelchair.We had fun.

Roy and James soon left for New York, where Roy worked for the investment house Goldman, Sachs and James for the designer Norma Kamali. After a few years of the fabulous fast life, rising debt, and weakening immune systems, they came home to Houston.They were determined to beat AIDS and the HIV virus using natural and alternative therapies. That meant low-stress (and low-paying) jobs.Roy went to work at A Moveable Feast, a health-food store and restaurant, and James did display windows at Neiman-Marcus. Thus I learned of Roy’s other life.

As a young man fresh out of high school Roy lived in Bremen, Germany. While there he answered an ad in the local paper for an ongoing yoga class that taught the Rishikesh series, named for the meditation ashram in Rishikesh, India. Over the year, members of the class reported much-improved health and flexibility and described dramatic changes, for the better, in their personal lives.The class attributed these benefits to their ongoing yoga practice.

Roy said the ten poses he learned really worked for him. I was intrigued. Roy had spent years living at an ashram in Denton, Texas, where he practiced meditation and yoga and experimented with some LSD and magic mushrooms (it was the ‘70s).When AIDS came knocking Roy had a full spiritual life to fall back on.He and James designed new and healthy lifestyles for themselves.Roy rekindled a nightly yoga and meditation program.

That first lesson in Roy’s study was an eye-opener.Doing yoga hurt me, or, I should say, stretching my body hurt me. My pathologically lazy life had repaid me with amazingly tight muscles and stiff joints. My body was rigid. I decided then and there that I didn’t have the time or the interest for yoga, and I did not try it again until my sojourn at the Lomi School.

But as my appreciation for yoga has grown over the years, I have returned, again and again, to the Rishikesh series Roy taught me.Looking for a good quote on yoga, I picked up The Sivananda Companion to Yoga, and as I thumbed through the pages I recognized most of the poses.Then I saw the word “Rishikesh”!Roy’s ten poses were abbreviated from the yoga taught by the Sivananda ashrams, located from Rishikesh, India, to London to San Francisco. I was pleased to see that most of the additions I had made to the original series of ten were found in the Sivinanda warm-up or extended series.

“How often do we stretch?” is a good question with a lot of different expert answers.“Nearly every day” is the best answer.At the very least stretch one day for every day you exercise:lift weights, run, swim, play volleyball or any sport.Sport activities tend to shorten the muscles during play.If the muscles are not stretched to counterbalance the shortening they habitually tighten, causing pain and possible injury.

A recent article on preventing sports injuries in The New York Times quoted Dr. Gloria Beim, an orthopedic surgeon in Crested Butte, Colorado. She is the team doctor for the U.S. track cycling team.Beim recommended aerobic movement to warm up the muscles followed by aggressive stretching before any sports activity.She also said, “I tell my patients, ‘Stretching right before you exercise three times a week isn’t going to do it. You need to stretch every day to get its benefit’.”

Roy taught me to begin each yoga session with the Sun Salutation.This is a famous series of exercises that flow through a dozen steps and are performed a dozen times.This flow of exercises, or vinyasa, warms up the body so that it is limber and prepared for the formal Rishikesh poses.

Over time I substituted the Five Tibetans for the Sun Salutations. I also have included the written instructions for some all-purpose light stretches to warm and loosen the body before one attempts the stronger Rishikesh poses—do what works for you.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Flashback to my yoga class: Kay was leading us in the “crow,” and the pose challenged even her that morning. “Ohhh,” I groaned audibly. The “crow” was an advanced position that I just couldn’t seem to master.I slowly bent my knees into a squat and placed my hands on the floor. The idea was to crouch forward, balancing the knees just above the elbows, lift the feet of the floor and support the whole body with the hands. Yes, I agree, theoretically it sounded impossible, but I tried anyway, shifting my weight forward and teetering precariously on my hands and big toes.

In a perfect world I would have lifted my feet in the air and balanced gracefully, gazing serenely into the mirrors ahead.In reality, I huffed and puffed and struggled. Kay encouraged me to “Be patient” and to “Respect the gifts and limits of my body this morning.” She also reminded me that “I’m a big crow.”My frustration receded, and I vowed to master the pose.In the Chinese calendar 2000 was the year of the Dragon, but I vowed to make it the year of the Crow!

“Are you ready for that shavasana (corpse pose)?” Kay teased.“Lie down on your back and do some long body stretches.”I lay down and let my feet splay out. I rolled my head from side to side so that it rested naturally. I consciously scanned my body and relaxed:my reward after an intense hour of breathing and stretching.As my body cooled I felt peaceful, my mind focused and calm, and my emotions riding crisply on the surface of my awareness.My spirit was grateful and soaring. Sure, I was aware of other tightness in my body, yet I was satisfied and pleased with myself.And that is why I continue to practice yoga.

Consciousness seeks our attention to the obvious as well as to the subtle.When we are still, whether sitting quietly or sleeping, our bodies continue to move: our hearts beat, our brains emit waves of energy, our chests rise and fall as we breathe.Hatha yoga so excellently exemplifies somatic exercise because the regimen focuses on breathing techniques and paying close attention to the subtlest sensations of the body during movement.

When we are attuned to the raw physicality of our bodies, we hone our powers of concentration and relax the mind.A relaxed mind, in turn, is engaged in the present moment, focused on the “now.”Our bodies live in the present, never the past nor the future.By paying attention to the bare bones of a simple movement, we can then expand that level of concentration to become acutely aware of our bodies, our emotions, our thoughts and beliefs, and our behaviors—the truths of our lives.After all, life is movement.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

There are several ways to re-educate a muscle’s stretch reflex. The first is simply to wait it out.Hatha yoga relies on this traditional method of stretching by encouraging the student to go as far into a stretch as one can safely hold that position.If that pose occurs in concert with concentrated breathing, supported by good strength, the nerve’s stretch reflex will exhaust itself.Once this happens, the student ekes out a little more movement until the stretch reflex kicks back in; he waits for relief then repeats the series.

Another way to lengthen a muscle is to bend as fully into a stretch as you safely can, hold it, and breathe for a minute. Then contract the muscle you are trying to stretch for a few seconds to a few minutes.This is called “contract-relax stretching.”The muscle contraction suppresses the stretch reflex.As soon as you relax your muscles, immediately push a bit more stretch.The suppression of the reflex is only a split second so move quickly but carefully.Pavel Tsatsouline, the author of Relax into Stretch, says studies indicate that contract-relax stretching is “at least 267 percent more effective than conventional ‘wait it out’ stretching.”

A powerhouse way to lengthen a muscle is to add holding your breath to the contract-relax stretch.Bend as far into the pose as you safely can.Inhale and hold your breath as you contract the muscle you are stretching.I find fifteen to thirty seconds is ample time to override the stretch reflex.Exhale and stretch a little farther. Breathe for a moment, then repeat the combination until your muscles are stretched as far as they will go.Hold that fully-stretched pose for a few full breaths.